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Asset management house Henderson Group has announced a number of changes to its board membership and corporate structure. Chairman Rupert Pennant-Rea will stand down from the board in May 2013 and the group said that a comprehensive search had commenced for his successor. In addition, the company has announced a change in its tax residency from the Republic of Ireland to the UK by means of a corporate restructuring. The UK government's Controlled Foreign Company reform means the group's tax position and effective tax rate are unaffected by having a UK resident parent company. Furthermore, the board has decided to reduce the number of executive directors on the board. David Jacob and James Darkins have stepped down with effect from December 12th. The group also announced the appointment of Jacqui Irvine as company secretary with effect from December 12th replacing Fionnuala Hanrahan. Henderson Group's share price was down 1.49% to 125.70p at 10:24 on Thursday morning.

"Once again management have been able to demonstrate the effectiveness of the business model by successfully adapting to changing circumstances in the industry such as rising input prices and changes in tariff structures. "The growing power demand in India combined with our roll out and in particular measures now being instituted to improve the financial health of the state utilities makes us confident that OPG will continue to build superior shareholder value."

OPG Power Ventures, the developer and operator of power generation plants in India, saw revenue slip in the six months ended September 30th 2012. Revenue fell 5.3% to £17.8m from £18.8m year-on-year excluding legacy assets no longer consolidated from November 2011. The group pointed out that the 17% depreciation in the average Indian rupee/pound sterling exchange rate since the comparable period of the previous year masked an underlying increase in rupee revenues of 11%. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) declined by 7.6% to £4.65m while the EBITDA margin stood at 26%, 1% less than the previous year's margin. Cash and cash equivalents of £22.5m were reported as well as 31% of gearing following project expenditure. Commenting on the results, Mr M C Gupta, Chairman of OPG Ppwer Ventures said: "The group's flexible business model continues to produce superior returns and OPG's roll out of new plants is on schedule.

Nevertheless, results and trading statements from a number of small caps are due out, including Pursuit Dynamics, Plant Impact and i-design. In the absence of any results from heavyweight stocks, investors' focus will undoubtedly remain on the US 'fiscal cliff' as markets remain sensitive to 'to-ing and fro-ing' from politicians Stateside.

Credit Suisse said that it has cut its Wood Group forecasts for 2013 and expects consensus forecasts to come down also, largely on softer GTS profits. "In GTS, large lump-sum contracts (GWF, as flagged earlier in the year) are less profitable than hoped, and we have brought our earnings down modestly, offset by anticipated good demand from higher run-time on US turbines," the broker said. Credit Suisse maintained its 'neutral' rating and 925p target price for the stock, "largely as we believe this high-quality name is fairly priced at current levels"

In subsea and pipelines, the company said that it continues to see good activity levels in onshore pipelines in North America. However, in downstream, Wood Group said that the market outlook remains "subdued", though it has seen some improvement in the second half. Elsewhere, Wood Group PSN, which provides brownfield services to the oil and gas industry, has been boosted by a strong performance in the North Sea and in North America. Meanwhile, turbo-machinery division Wood Group GTS has benefitted from the contribution from its oil and gas related activities. However, it also revealed that it has recognised reduced margins on its contract with GWF.

Energy services giant Wood Group has said that it expects to deliver good growth this year, with overall conditions in energy markets remaining 'favourable'. However, shares were down by 4.36% at 735p in afternoon trade on Tuesday after the company reported mixed conditions in its Engineering and GTS divisions. "Overall, performance for 2012 is anticipated to be in line with expectations," Wood Group said."We anticipate further good growth in 2013 and remain confident in the longer term prospects for the group's market leading services in oil & gas and gas fired power generation markets." The company expects its Engineering division to report over 30% growth in 2012 earnings before interest, tax and amortisation (EBITA). In upstream, while the group is making progress in its projects in Australia and Angola and remains active in projects in the Gulf of Mexico, it did admit that it expects "some reduction in activity" in the Canadian oil sands market in 2013.

Tracsis has won a contract from the New Zealand operations of a worldwide transport owning group, the company announced Thursday. The contract between the UK transport technology firm and the New Zealand group includes a combination of software licence, support and maintenance, project management and customisation. The deal is with the Tracsis division of COMPASS (combined performance and safety system) - a modular safety, performance and management software suite that provides accurate tracking and reporting on transport systems. John McArthur, Chief Executive Officer, said: "We are delighted to have been awarded this contract for our COMPASS product with a major worldwide transport operator. Australasia is a target market for Tracsis as it seeks to expand overseas and this win follows on the back of consultancy work carried out in New Zealand earlier in the year." The agreement is expected to deliver an element of recurring revenue and will be complete over several months. Tracsis has clients with UK railway operators including Network Rail, Virgin Group, Arriva and First Group, as well as customers in Europe and Australia

Optimistic outlook from CEO Commenting on the results, Anil Chalamalasetty, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Greenko, said: "Greenko has grown significantly this year and in the last six months, we have invested over €116m into the business. This was used for the 500 MW of projects we are currently building, and to acquire new assets. "Our total operating portfolio has grown 58% since March and despite a weak monsoon, adjusted EBITDA grew 57% on a constant currency basis. Construction of our next 100 MW wind farm is well underway and the first turbines are already up, keeping us on track to add over 250 MW of operational wind power in 2013. "Current market conditions are also creating opportunities for a well-capitalised business, such as Greenko, to secure further hydro assets at very attractive prices. With 500 MW of projects currently under construction, we expect to see substantial growth in our generating capacity in the next twelve months."

Adjusted profit after tax increased 121.2 per cent to 4.2m euros in the six months to September 30th at Indian clean energy developer Greenko following a raft of acquisitions. In the company's interim results for the half year, its aggressive acquisition strategy - which saw it buy eight hydropower projects in Himal Pradesh over the course of six months - appeared to have paid off. Reported revenue was €23.7m, up from €19.8m in the corresponding period in 2011. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) increased 46.5% to €16.5m compared to €11.2m in 2011. The increase in personnel and operating costs to €4.3m from €2.8m in the corresponding period in 2011 reflected the increased size of Greenko's generating portfolio and greater activity on its pipeline, the company said.

Eredene and consortium partners have also withdrawn from concession to build and operate the Ennore Container Terminal and have a new slimmed down management team in place in India to concentrate on maximising value of its investments. "Eredene is focused on maximising the value of its investments in India, and the Company intends over time to return more capital to shareholders," the company said in a statement. "Eredene has put in place a smaller, less costly team in India to concentrate on managing the existing portfolio and on realising its full market potential. An independent detailed financial review of the Eredene Group's key investments in India has been carried out with broadly satisfactory results."

Eredene Capital reported Wednesday a 10m pound loss in its half-yearly report, following its decision to sell its stake in Matheran Realty and its subsidiary Gopi Resorts. The London-based investor in Indian infrastructure has released its unaudited interim results for the six month period ended September 30th, 2012, revealing a considerable drop in revenue compared to the previous year's loss of £1.5m. The company said the results come off the back of £4.5m spent on ongoing operations and £6.6m on the write-down in the investment of Mumbai-based Matheran and Gopi. Eredene has signed an indicative term sheet with an undisclosed prospective buyer for the low-cost housing development near Mumbai. The organisation held 45% stake in Matheran and purchased an additional 42% for £2.6 in July after settlement of arbitration with another shareholder. The firm also held 32.25% in Gopi Resorts. The investment group referenced the write-down in its net asset value of shares which was reported at 16.7p, down 2.9 from a year ago.

AIM-listed Gardening products supplierWilliam Sinclair has announced the appointment of Peter Rush as Chief Executive Officer with effect from March 2013. Rush will succeed Bernard Burns who is retiring as Chief Executive and as a director of the company on March 31st 2013. Burns will remain a part-time employee of the company with specific responsibility for progressing the company's negotiations with Natural England for compensation for the Bolton Fell bogs and manufacturing facilities. Commenting on Peter's appointment, Bill Simpson, Chairman of the company, said: "We are disappointed that Bernard has decided to retire but we understand the personal reasons for his decision and we wish him and his family all the very best for the future. "We are delighted that in Peter Rush we have an experienced managing director with considerable operational and commercial skills and significant and relevant experience with another major supplier to the horticulture industry. We believe the mix of these skills and his managerial qualities makes him the ideal candidate to succeed Bernard and to continue to progress and develop the business's growth strategies."

"The domain knowledge and technical capabilities of our professional services teams leave us ideally placed to design and manage the hosting of this solution and to partner with ASIC in developing analytics to help maintain efficient and orderly markets." ASIC said the system would help interrogate data and monitor market activity as the complexity of the market grows with the increased use of technology and the faster and higher volume of trades. First Derivative, which has a market capitalisation of £89.01m, has operations in London, New York, Stockholm, Shanghai, Singapore, Toronto, Sydney, Dublin, Newry and Hong Kong.

First Derivatives has signed a multi-year annual software licence with the Australian Securities and Investment Commission to provide a new market surveillance system, the company reported Thursday. The Irish-based provider of software and consulting services will implement its Delta Stream, a market data capture and analytics platform. The Australian government body will use Delta Stream to meet its statutory obligation to oversee the country's licensed financial markets. The platform, which was launched in 2008, will help monitor any prohibited market trading across the range of asset classes and products. The system screens different asset classes including equities and fixed income and analyses large data volumes using a single platform. First Derivatives Chief Executive Officer Brian Conlon said: "We are delighted with the decision by ASIC to use Delta Stream as their chosen platform for market surveillance. Delta Stream will allow ASIC to quickly respond to evolving market regulations, the introduction of new products and projected increases in data volumes.

Advanced Medical Solutions has a £121.69m market capitalisation

Advanced Medical Solutions has revealed its annual profits will be at the 'lower end' of market expectations. The news was unveiled Thursday in the UK-based global medical technology company's trading update which reported lower-than-expected sales of their LiquidBand product in the US market. The woundcare group said it was disappointed with its progress in the second half of 2012 after failing to sell as much they had hoped of the product, a skin adhesive for wounds. "With the gains made across a number of fronts being offset to some extent by the performance of LiquiBand in the US Acute Care hospital sector and continued pressure on foam roll-stock, overall indications for the full year are that AMS will be at the lower end of market expectation for pre-tax profits," the company said in a statement. The organisation said the overall performance of LiquiBand in the US has been mixed with success in the Alternative Site sector but trouble in targeting the larger Acute Care hospital sector. "We are actively reviewing the most effective strategy for accessing and gaining market share in this important sector. AMS's roll-stock foam revenues will also be lower than in the prior year, as previously highlighted in the interim statement," the company stated. However the company said it has made progress with ActivHeal, silver alginate and the converted foam portfolios. It is also expecting growth in existing businesses and from its Resorba brands.

Agricultural and distribution business NWF Group said Thursday it has reduced net debt after exceeding trading expectations. In a trading announcement for the half-year ending November 30th, the company said debt has been lower than anticipated after the board hit sales targets. The group is anticipating higher profits in its half-yearly interim results which are due for release on January 29th, 2013. "Profit before taxation for the six months ended November 30th is anticipated to be ahead of the comparative period in the prior year," the group said in a statement. "Net debt is expected to be significantly lower than at the same point last year reflecting the result of more effective working capital management across the group." NWF Group said its feeds division has exceeded trading prospects after successfully managing the increases and volatility of commodity prices by focusing on direct business with farmers. Its fuels business has also performed well following a return to normal trading, increased demand for heating oil for winter, a lower cost base and rationalised tanker fleet

Nick Prest, Chairman of Cohort, said: "Cohort has continued to make progress although the tightness in the UK defence market has persisted. First half trading performance was ahead of last year despite reduced revenue. "There are some good opportunities ahead both in defence and non-defence markets, and our order book remains strong. We do see uncertainties ahead, particularly at SCS. I expect that the difficult market conditions they are facing will improve when the MOD's re-organisation initiatives are complete, though this could take some time." "On balance we believe that Cohort will continue to make progress in the current financial year and beyond."

AIM-listed independent technology company Cohort posted modest growth in operating profit for the six months to October 31st, according to its interim results published on Thursday. The group, which has a market capitalisation of £49.89m and operates through three subsidiaries; MASS, SCS and SEA, saw growth in adjusted operating profit, earnings per share and its interim dividend. Adjusted operating profit increased by 9% to £3.3m, up from £3m in the corresponding period in 2011. Adjusted earnings per share increased by 25% to 6.97p and the interim dividend increased by 20% to 1.20p per share. Revenue fell to £33.8m from £37.4m in the corresponding period last year and the group had net cash of £12.1m following dividends and purchase of own shares of £1.2m compared to £14.1m on April 30th 2012. Some £27.3m orders are deliverable in the second half underpinning revenue expectations, according to the company's results statement. The group added that prospects for further orders in the second half across the group are encouraging.